GIFT   OF 
JANE  KoSATHER 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

AS  A  MAN  AMONG  MEN 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

From  the  original  etching  by  Earl  Hortcr 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

AS  A  MAN  AMONG  MEN 


By 
G.  LYNN  SUMNER 


HARPER  &  BROTHERS  PUBLISHERS 
NEW  YORK  AND  LONDON 


Copyright,  1922,  by  G.  Lynn  Sumner 

All  rights  reserved 
Printed  in  the  U.S.A. 

I         _      A-X 


TO  MY  FRIEND 
DOUGLAS  MALLOCH 


564821 


IF  I  SHOULD  CARVE  A  LINCOLN 

By  DOUGLAS  MALLOCH 

If  I  should  carve  a  Lincoln,  I  would  take 

No  snow-white  marble,  but  a  rugged  rock, 
One  that  the  frosts  of  Winter  could  not  break, 

That  had  withstood  the  ocean's  thundering  shock, 
Some  solid  rock  amid  the  shifting  sands, 

Unmoved  by  storm,  unaltered  by  the  wave, 
Some  granite  giant  that  forever  stands 

To  mark  the  harbor  with  a  light  to  save. 

If  I  should  carve  a  Lincoln,  I  would  shape 

Some  promontory  lifting  from  the  sea, 
Standing,  as  Lincoln  stood,  a  mighty  cape 

Thrust  forward  into  time  a  century, 
Looking,  as  Lincoln  looked,  beyond  the  shore, 

Across  the  ocean  of  the  future  years, 
A  rock  to  stand  for  men  forevermore 

And  point  the  way  to  other  pioneers. 

If  I  should  carve  a  Lincoln,  I  would  form 

A  figure  from  a  rock  that  loved  the  sun, 
A  rock  that  glistened  after  every  storm 

And  smiled  with  verdure  when  the  rain  was  done, 
A  rock  where  little  children  came  to  play 

And  violets  to  blossom  on  the  slope, 
That  found,  like  Lincoln,  humor  in  each  day, 

In  words  of  humor  finding  words  of  hope. 

If  you  would  carve  a  Lincoln,  such  a  stone 

You  will  require,  O  sculptor,  for  your  art, 
Some  stone  gigantic  standing  thus  alone, 

High  as  his  mind,  and  broad  as  Lincoln's  heart. 
We  may  not  hope  to  shape  with  human  hands 

A  fit  memorial  for  such  as  he- 
Leave  Time  to  carve  it  from  some  rock  that  stands, 

Some  new  Gibraltar,  by  our  western  sea. 

To  G.  Lynn  Sumner 

With  affectionate  regards 

July  27,  1922 


NOTE 

The  material  in  this  little  volume 
originally  constituted  an  address  be 
fore  the  Kiwanis  Club  of  Scranton, 
Pennsylvania,  on  February  15, 
1922.  It  has  been  preserved  in  this 
form  at  the  suggestion  of  many 
friends. 

For  both  inspiration  and  infor 
mation,  the  author  wishes  to  make 
grateful  acknowledgment  to  Ida  M. 
Tarbell's  "Life  of  Lincoln"  Alonzo 
Rothschild's  "Lincoln,  Master  of 
Men"  and  Dr.  Russell  H.  Con- 
well's  "Why  Lincoln  Laughed" 

G.  LYNN  SUMNER 

Scranton,  Pa. 
December  1, 1022 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

AS  A  MAN  AMONG  MEN 

IF  you  stand  upon  the  top  of  a 
great  mountain  and  look  about 
you,  you  see  rugged  rocks,  and 
yawning  crevices,  and  precipitous 
slopes,  and  on  every  hand  peaks  of 
lesser  prominence,  and  you  are  con 
scious  only  that  the  height  upon 
which  you  stand  is  part  of  a  great 
upheaval  in  nature's  architecture. 

But  as  you  descend  the  mountain 
and  draw  away  from  it,  the  rocks  and 
crevices  so  prominent  when  close  at 
hand  soften  into  dim  details,  and  as 
you  go  on  across  the  valley  or  the 
plain  mile  after  mile  and  look  back, 
the  mountain  on  which  you  stood  a 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

little  while  before  stands  out  in  ma 
jestic  splendor  and  the  lesser  peaks 
become  but  a  setting  that  adds  by 
contrast  to  the  inspiring  height  that 
now  overshadows  and  out-glories  all. 

Just  so  has  the  passing  of  the  years 
added  glory  to  the  greatness  of  Lin 
coln.  And  so  have  the  men  among 
whom  he  moved  in  that  turbulent 
period  of  the  nation's  great  internal 
conflict  become  but  lesser  figures 
that  add  by  contrast  to  the  stature  of 
the  greatest  American. 

There  are  so  many  phases  to  Lin 
coln's  greatness  that  in  so  brief  a 
time  one  can  touch  but  lightly  on  his 
character. 

I  might  speak  of  him  as  a  great 
lawyer,  for  his  principles  of  practice 
established  a  code  of  ethics  for  mem 
bers  of  the  bar. 

[2] 


AS  A  MAN  AMONG  MEN 

I  might  speak  of  him  as  a  great 
orator,  for  his  eloquence  was  the 
kind  that  carried  conviction  to  the 
souls  of  men. 

I  might  speak  of  him  as  a  great 
writer,  for  his  letters  and  speeches 
and  state  papers  are  evidence  of  his 
mastery  of  the  English  language. 

I  might  speak  of  him  as  a  great 
statesman,  for  he  has  been  called 
"the  greatest  ruler  of  men  the  world 
has  ever  known." 

But  I  am  going  to  pass  over  all 
these  characteristics  of  his  greatness 
and  speak  of  him  as  a  man  among 
men,  and  of  his  influence  upon  two 
or  three  of  the  outstanding  figures  of 
his  time. 

I  think  we  sometimes  forget  that 
the  first  forty-five  years  of  Lincoln's 
life  were  spent  in  comparative  ob- 
[3] 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

scurity.  We  are  familiar  now  with 
the  struggles  of  his  earlier  years, 
because  in  a  realization  of  his  great 
ness  we  have  gone  back  and  learned 
about  him — his  humble  birth,  the 
pitiful  poverty  of  his  boyhood,  the 
hardships  of  his  youth,  the  simple 
story  of  his  middle  life.  The  truth 
is  that  with  the  exception  of  three 
inconsequential  terms  in  the  Illinois 
Legislature,  beginning  in  1836,  and 
a  single  term  in  Congress  in  1846 
and  '47,  Lincoln  did  not  appear 
prominently  in  public  life  until 
1854.  Almost  continuously  for 
twenty  years  he  practiced  law  on  the 
circuit  in  Illinois. 

During   this   same   period,   there 

was    developing,    also    in    Illinois, 

another  man  with  whom  Lincoln's 

life  was  destined  to  come  into  fre- 

[4] 


AS  A  MAN  AMONG  MEN 

quent  and  eventually  momentous 
contact  That  man  was  Stephen  A. 
Douglas. 

You  could  scarcely  imagine  two 
men  more  strangely  in  contrast  in 
physical  appearance.  Lincoln,  six 
feet  four,  long,  lanky,  awkward, 
homely.  Douglas,  short,  stocky, 
with  a  great  head,  a  strong  face, 
always  immaculately  dressed.  Yet 
their  physical  contrast  was  no 
greater  than  the  contrast  in  their 
political  successes  during  their  early 
years.  Both  as  young  men  had  sat 
with  the  crowd  around  Joshua 
Speed's  store  in  Springfield  and  dis 
cussed,  as  was  the  custom,  the  issues 
of  the  day.  Both  had  been  suitors 
for  the  hand  of  Mary  Todd.  Both 
had  served  in  the  Illinois  Legisla 
ture  in  1836. 

[5] 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

Then  their  ways  parted,  Lincoln 
returning  to  his  law  practice,  and 
Douglas,  a  young  idol  of  the  Demo 
crats  of  Illinois,  launching  forth  into 
a  career  of  political  achievement 
scarcely,  if  ever,  equalled  in  Ameri 
can  history.  In  the  legislature  at  23, 
he  became  at  26  Secretary  of  State 
of  Illinois,  at  28  a  Judge  of  the  Illi 
nois  Supreme  Court,  at  30  a  member 
of  Congress,  and  at  34  a  United 
States  Senator.  His  star  was  in  the 
swift  ascendency,  and  its  course 
seemed  to  lead  straight  to  a  realiza 
tion  of  the  ambition  of  his  life — the 
Presidency. 

But  with  all  his  ability,  his  splen 
did  qualities,  and  his  splendid  service 
to  his  party,  his  state,  and  the  nation, 
Douglas  had  one  weakness.  To  at 
tain  his  ambition  he  was  willing  to 
[6] 


AS  A  MAN  AMONG  MEN 

compromise  on  the  supreme  and 
vital  question  of  slavery.  To  win  the 
Presidency  he  dare  not  alienate  the 
South,  and  so,  although  a  staunch 
supporter  in  1848  of  the  Missouri 
Compromise,  which  definitely 
placed  a  limit  upon  slave  territory, 
he  broke  faith  with  it  in  1854  and 
himself  introduced  an  amendment 
to  the  Nebraska  bill  providing  that 
the  people  of  that  Territory  might 
themselves  determine  whether  it 
should  be  "slave"  or  "free."  This 
shift  in  his  position  on  the  slave  ques 
tion  required  an  explanation  among 
his  constituents  and  brought  him 
home  to  Illinois  in  1854  to  defend 
his  position. 

During  these  years  when  Douglas 
was   so    prominent   in    public    life, 
Lincoln  had  followed  his  progress 
[7] 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

with  unflagging  interest.  He  had 
followed,  too,  every  move  in  the  ris 
ing  tide  against  slavery.  And  in 
Lincoln's  mental  make-up  there  was 
no  room  for  compromise.  No  mat 
ter  what  his  personal  ambitions,  to 
the  extension  of  slave  territory  he 
was  unalterably  opposed. 

Douglas,  seeking  large  gatherings 
of  people,  learned  that  the  State  Fair 
was  to  be  held  at  Springfield,  and  on 
the  opening  day  presented  himself 
and  made  a  speech  to  an  audience 
that  crowded  the  hall  of  the  State 
House.  During  the  early  part  of  his 
address  he  said :  "I  understand 
there  is  to  be  a  reply  to  this  address, 
and  that  Mr.  Lincoln,  of  this  city,  is 
to  answer  me.  If  this  be  true,  I  wish 
Mr.  Lincoln  would  stand  forth." 
Lincoln  was  not  in  the  audience  at 
[8] 


AS  A  MAN  AMONG  MEN 

the  time,  as  Douglas  probably  well 
knew. 

But  the  next  day,  at  the  same  place, 
and  with  an  equally  large  audience 
present,  Lincoln  was  present,  and 
when  the  challenge  was  repeated, 
Lincoln  stood  forth  and  at  that  mo 
ment  emerged  into  public  life,  never 
again  to  return  to  obscurity.  For 
following  the  speech  of  Douglas,  he 
mounted  the  platform  and  spoke  for 
three  hours,  delivering  what  many 
believe  to  be  the  greatest  speech  of 
his  life. 

A  few  days  later  Douglas  went  to 
Bloomington  and  Lincoln  followed 
and  answered  him  there.  And  still  a 
few  days  later  when  Douglas  ap 
peared  at  Peoria,  Lincoln  answered 
him  there.  It  was  after  the  Peoria 
meeting  that  Douglas  came  to  his 
[9] 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

opponent  and  said:  "Lincoln,  you 
understand  this  question  of  prohibit 
ing  slavery  in  the  Territories  better 
than  all  the  opposition  in  the  Senate 
of  the  United  States.  I  cannot  make 
anything  by  debating  it  with  you." 

And  with  this  plea  he  begged  Lin 
coln  to  desist.  To  this  truce  Lincoln 
agreed  and  both  abandoned  the  field 
and  returned  to  their  homes.  Lin 
coln's  first  skirmish  with  Douglas 
had  been  won  and  Lincoln  had  made 
himself  the  logical  and  unanimous 
choice  of  the  Republicans  as  candi 
date  for  Senator  four  years  later. 

So  now  it  was  1858  and  Douglas 
was  again  back  in  Illinois,  this  time 
not  merely  to  defend  his  policies,  but 
as  the  Democratic  candidate  to  plead 
for  his  reelection  to  the  Senate.  And 
now  Lincoln  and  Douglas  for  the 

[10] 


AS  A  MAN  AMONG  MEN 

first  time  were  matched  in  a  contest 
for  the  same  high  office. 

It  was  in  this  campaign  that  the 
great  series  of  Lincoln-Douglas  de 
bates  were  arranged  and  carried  out. 
Neither  before  nor  since  has  there 
ever  been  anything  like  them  in 
American  history — two  intellectual 
giants,  proceeding  from  city  to  city, 
discussing  in  public  forum  the  vital, 
burning  issues  of  the  time. 

But  there  was  a  marked  difference 
in  the  manner  of  the  two  men. 
Douglas  was  speaking  directly  to  his 
audiences.  Lincoln  was  speaking 
not  only  to  the  people  before  him  but 
also  over  and  beyond  them  to  the 
people  of  America. 

Some  of  Lincoln's  friends  were 
alarmed  at  his  tactics  and  warned 
him  that  if  he  were  not  more  careful 
[ii] 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

Douglas  would  win.  "Perhaps  he 
will,"  Lincoln  answered,  "but  the 
battle  of  1860  is  worth  a  hundred  of 
this."  And  he  continued  his  attacks, 
repeatedly  asking  Douglas  searching 
questions  and  forcing  him  to  take  in 
his  answers  compromising  positions 
that  he  as  persistently  sought  to 
avoid.  And  in  this  was  the  foresight 
of  Lincoln  revealed.  For  while 
Douglas  won  the  election,  he  won  it 
on  a  basis  that  cost  him  the  support 
of  the  South  in  the  infinitely  greater 
political  crisis  two  years  later. 

The  debates  with  Douglas  had 
made  Lincoln  the  outstanding  Re 
publican  of  Illinois.  He  was  still 
comparatively  unknown  in  the  East. 
But  February,  1860,  was  to  witness 
an  event  of  tremendous  significance 
in  Lincoln's  political  career. 

[12] 


AS  A  MAN  AMONG  MEN 

Lincoln's  son,  Robert,  was  in 
school  in  New  Hampshire  and  when 
there  came  from  Brooklyn  an  offer  of 
$200  to  speak  on  a  lyceum  program  in 
a  Brooklyn  church,  Lincoln  imme 
diately  accepted  because  the  $200 
would  enable  him  to  visit  his  boy  at 
school.  After  arrangements  had 
been  made,  however,  the  Brooklyn 
people  began  to  doubt  whether  this 
little  known  lawyer  from  the  West 
could  draw  a  $200  house,  so  they 
turned  him  over  to  a  political  club 
that  was  conducting  in  Cooper 
Union  a  series  of  lectures  on  the 
slave  question. 

I  think  no  finer  story  has  ever  been 
told  of  this  Cooper  Union  speech 
than  that  related  by  Dr.  Russell  H. 
Conwell.  He  had  been  teaching 
school  in  New  Hampshire,  where  he 

[13] 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

had  been  a  neighbor  of  William 
Cullen  Bryant.  But  in  February, 
1860,  he  was  in  New  York  going 
about  to  churches  and  to  political 
meetings  to  hear  the  great  orators  of 
the  time.  Bryant  was  to  be  chair 
man  of  the  Cooper  Union  meeting 
and  he  invited  Conwell  and  a  young 
friend  to  come. 

As  they  approached  the  hall  that 
evening,  they  found  a  crowd  of 
disturbers  outside  and  they  were 
stopped  and  questioned.  "Are  you 
nigger-men?"  asked  one  of  Conwell. 
"And,"  says  Conwell,  "we  thought 
he  was  asking  us  if  we  were  negroes 
and  we  answered  'No/  and  with  that 
he  gave  us  some  dried  onions,  saying, 
'Put  these  under  your  coats  and  when 
you  hear  five  whistles,  throw  'em  at 
the  feller  speakin'." 

[14] 


AS  A  MAN  AMONG  MEN 

Inside  there  was  a  crowd,  a  great, 
restless  crowd.  And  on  the  platform 
was  a  strange  contrast  of  figures. 
There  was  William  Cullen  Bryant, 
the  Chairman,  venerable  in  his  years, 
charming  of  manner,  perfectly  at 
ease.  And  over  at  one  side  sat  the 
speaker  of  the  evening.  His  feet 
were  tangled  in  the  rungs  of  his 
chair,  his  eyes  were  downcast,  beside 
him  on  the  floor  was  his  beaver  hat, 
and  in  it  might  be  seen  the  manu 
script  of  his  speech. 

Finally  he  arose.  One  leg  of  his 
trousers  had  caught  on  the  back  of 
his  shoe.  He  had  run  his  fingers 
through  his  hair  and  left  a  lock 
standing  straight  up  behind.  He 
had  forgotten  to  remove  the  pencil 
over  his  right  ear. 

Holding  his  manuscript  in  trem- 
[151 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

bling  hands,  he  began  to  read  it  in  a 
harsh,  unpleasant  voice.  The  audi 
ence,  already  uneasy,  grew  in  rest 
lessness.  There  were  even  hisses 
from  one  corner  of  the  room.  As 
the  minutes  dragged  on,  the  suspense 
became  intolerable — they  were  min 
utes  of  agony. 

Finally,  as  he  turned  the  pages  of 
his  paper  with  shaking  hands,  a  sheet 
dropped  unseen  to  the  floor.  A  mo 
ment  later  he  had  reached  that  point 
in  his  reading,  he  saw  that  something 
was  missing,  and  he  stood  there,  em 
barrassed,  a  pitiable  figure.  Then 
suddenly,  in  desperation,  he  cast  the 
manuscript  aside,  and  throwing  out 
a  long  arm,  looked  full  into  the  faces 
of  his  audience  and  launched  into  an 
extemporaneous  indictment  of  sla 
very.  The  audience  grew  still,  then 

[16] 


AS  A  MAN  AMONG  MEN 

attentive,  then  absorbed.  The 
change  was  magical.  It  was  as  if 
some  unseen  influence  was  making 
itself  felt.  And  when  the  speaker 
had  finished,  the  whole  audience  was 
on  its  feet  in  wild  applause. 

The  East  now  knew  Lincoln. 

That  was  the  17th  of  February, 
1860.  Three  months  later  Lincoln 
was  nominated  at  Chicago  as  the  Re 
publican  candidate  for  President. 
The  Democrats,  split  into  two  fac 
tions  on  the  slave  question,  put  forth 
two  candidates — the  Southern  wing, 
Breckinridge,  the  Northern  wing, 
Stephen  A.  Douglas.  So  now  again 
Lincoln  and  Douglas  were  contend 
ers,  this  time  for  the  supreme  goal. 
And  Lincoln's  victory  at  last  had 
come. 

On  March  4,  1861,  a  vast  crowd 

[17] 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

had  assembled  before  the  East  Por 
tico  of  the  Capitol,  for  a  President 
was  about  to  be  inaugurated.  On  the 
platform  a  group  of  the  nation's 
greatest  men  waited  his  coming. 
Finally  Lincoln  stepped  forth.  He 
wore  a  new  suit  of  clothes,  and  there 
had  been  few  enough  new  suits  in 
Lincoln's  life.  But  to  add  to  the 
awkwardness  of  the  situation,  he 
carried  a  new  high  silk  hat  and  a 
gold-headed  cane,  and  he  had  not  the 
slightest  idea  what  to  do  with  them. 
After  an  embarrassed  pause,  he  stood 
the  cane  in  a  corner.  But  he  could 
find  no  place  for  the  hat  and  he  stood 
there  holding  it.  And  then,  while 
the  eyes  of  the  multitude  looked  on, 
Douglas  stepped  forward,  took  the 
hat  from  his  hand,  and  held  it  while 
Lincoln  took  the  oath  of  office  and 
[18] 


AS  A  MAN  AMONG  MEN 

delivered  his  inaugural  address. 
Thus  in  such  simple  form  came  the 
dramatic  climax  to  their  last,  long 
race.  While  one  was  crowned  with 
the  highest  honors  to  which  their 
conflicting  ambitions  had  aspired, 
the  other  humbly  held  the  victor's 
hat. 

During  the  early  months  of  Lin 
coln's  administration,  he  had  no 
critic  more  bitter  than  Edwin  M. 
Stanton.  Stanton,  a  Democrat,  had 
been  Attorney  General  in  the  Bu 
chanan  cabinet  and  there  had  demon 
strated  his  tremendous  ability,  vir 
tually  holding  the  crumbling  Bu 
chanan  administration  together  as  it 
drew  to  a  close.  But  he  looked  upon 
Lincoln's  rise  to  the  Presidency  as  a 
national  disaster.  Not  only  Lin 
coln's  policies,  but  his  personal  ap- 

[19] 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

pearance  were  targets  for  Stanton's 
invectives.  He  habitually  referred 
to  Lincoln  as  the  "original  gorilla" 
and  said  that  "Du  Chaillu  was  a  fool 
to  wander  all  over  Africa  in  search 
of  what  he  could  so  easily  have  found 
in  Springfield,  Illinois." 

After  the  battle  of  Bull  Run,  Stan- 
ton  wrote  to  Buchanan :  "The  imbe 
cility  of  this  administration  cul 
minated  in  that  catastrophe;  and 
irretrievable  misfortune  and  national 
disgrace  are  to  be  added  to  the  ruin 
of  all  peaceful  pursuits  and  national 
bankruptcy,  as  the  result  of  Lincoln's 
'running  the  machine,'  for  five 
months.  It  is  not  unlikely  that  some 
change  in  the  War  and  Navy  De 
partments  may  take  place,  but  none 
beyond  those  departments  until  Jeff 
Davis  turns  out  the  whole  concern." 

[20] 


AS  A  MAN  AMONG  MEN 

Yet  in  January,  1862,  nine  months 
after  Lincoln's  inauguration,  Stanton 
was  invited  to  become  a  member  of 
his  cabinet.  Simon  Cameron,  Secre 
tary  of  War,  had  been  unequal  to  the 
task.  A  strong  man  was  needed,  and 
Lincoln,  seeking  only  ability  and 
willing  to  overlook  personalities,  saw 
in  Stanton  the  qualities  required  for 
the  War  Department's  tremendous 
responsibility. 

Stanton  accepted  with  supreme 
confidence  in  himself  and  no  lessen 
ing  of  his  contempt  for  Lincoln.  He 
looked  upon  the  call  to  duty  solely 
as  a  personal  obligation  to  save  the 
country.  But  upon  the  task  before 
him  he  centered  all  his  great  talents 
and  energies. 

It  is  doubtful  whether  any  act  of 
Lincoln's  caused  more  amazement 

[21] 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

among  Republicans  than  his  selec 
tion  of  Stanton  for  the  War  Office. 
His  friends  warned  him  that  Stanton 
would  give  him  no  end  of  trouble, 
that  he  would  run  away  with  the 
whole  concern.  But  Lincoln  showed 
no  signs  of  alarm. 

"We  may  have  to  treat  him,"  said 
he,  "as  they  are  sometimes  obliged  to 
treat  a  Methodist  minister  I  know  of 
out  West.  He  gets  wrought  up  to  so 
high  a  pitch  of  excitement  in  his 
prayers  and  exhortations,  that  they 
are  obliged  to  put  bricks  in  his 
pockets  to  keep  him  down.  We  may 
have  to  serve  Stanton  the  same  way, 
but  I  guess  we'll  let  him  jump  awhile 
first." 

Lincoln's  constant  attitude  toward 
Stanton  was  one  of  patience  and  tol 
erance.  He  seemed  willing  to  make 

[22] 


AS  A  MAN  AMONG  MEN 

any  sacrifice  of  pride,  if  only  Stan- 
ton's  great  energies  might  be  cease 
lessly  applied  to  the  prosecution  of 
the  war. 

One  day,  Owen  Lovejoy,  heading 
a  delegation  of  Western  men,  came 
down  to  Washington  to  urge  upon 
the  President  the  mingling  of  West 
ern  and  Eastern  troops  in  order  to 
promote  the  spirit  of  national  unity. 
Lincoln  thought  well  of  the  plan  and 
wrote  a  note  to  Stanton  suggesting  a 
transfer  of  certain  regiments.  When 
the  committee  presented  it  to  Stanton 
he  said  it  was  impracticable  and  re 
fused  to  carry  it  out. 
"If  Lincoln  gave  that  order,"  said 
Stanton,  "he  is  a  damned  fool." 

Returning  to  the  White  House, 
Lovejoy  gave  Lincoln  an  exact  re 
port  of  the  conversation. 

[23] 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

"Did  Stanton  really  say  I  was  a 
damned  fool?"  asked  Lincoln. 

"He  did,"  answered  Lovejoy. 

"Then,"  said  Lincoln,  "I  must  be 
one,  for  Stanton  is  nearly  always 
right." 

No  one  knew  and  understood  bet 
ter  than  Lincoln  the  great  problems 
with  which  his  War  Secretary  had  to 
contend,  and  no  one  was  more  appre 
ciative  of  his  labors,  more  ready  to 
sustain  him  in  his  struggles  to  main 
tain  the  effectiveness  of  the  army. 

"Stanton  is  the  rock  upon  which 
are  beating  the  waves  of  this  con 
flict,"  he  said  to  some  who  came 
complaining  of  the  Secretary's  re 
fusal  to  make  an  army  appointment 
that  they  desired.  "He  fights  back 
the  angry  waters  and  prevents  them 
from  undermining  and  overwhelm 
ed 


AS  A  MAN  AMONG  MEN 

ing  the  land.  I  do  not  see  how  he 
survives — why  he  is  not  crushed  and 
torn  to  pieces.  Without  him  I 
should  be  destroyed." 

Joseph  Medill,  then  publisher  of 
the  Chicago  Tribune,  told  a  story  of 
how,  at  a  most  critical  period  of  the 
war,  a  new  draft  was  levied  and  the 
city  of  Chicago,  which  already  had 
furnished  20,000  men,  was  asked  to 
send  6,000  more.  There  was  a  great 
mass  meeting  to  protest,  and  Medill 
headed  a  delegation  that  went  down 
to  Washington  to  urge  upon  the 
President  a  reduction  in  Chicago's 
allotment. 

Lincoln  said  to  them,  "Come,  I 
will  go  over  with  you  to  Stanton  and 
you  can  present  your  case  and  we 
will  see  what  he  has  to  say."  When 
they  had  made  their  plea,  Stanton 

[25] 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

shook  his  head.    "No,"  he  said,  "we 
must  have  the  men." 

Then  Lincoln,  who  all  this  while 
had  been  sitting  silent,  tipped  back  in 
a  chair,  stood  up,  and  there  was  a 
cloud  almost  of  anger  on  his  face. 

"Gentlemen,"  he  said,  "you  ought 
to  be  ashamed  of  yourselves.  No 
sections  of  the  North  did  so  much  to 
bring  on  this  war  as  New  England 
and  the  Northwest.  You  in  Chicago 
were  calling  for  it  and  you  got  it. 
And  you,  Medill,  with  your  Chicago 
Tribune  and  all  its  influence,  you 
were  among  those  who  wanted  it 
most.  Now,  when  I  am  trying  to 
carry  it  through  to  a  successful  con 
clusion  and  call  for  more  troops  to 
do  it,  you  beg  for  mercy.  Go  back  to 
Chicago  and  raise  those  men !" 

"We  went  out  of  that  presence," 

[26] 


AS  A  MAN  AMONG  MEN 

said  Medill,  "thoroughly  ashamed 
of  our  mission,  and  we  went  back  to 
Chicago  and  raised  the  6,000  men." 

It  was  the  heroic  meeting  of  such 
crises  as  this  that  broke  down  Stan- 
ton's  antagonism  toward  Lincoln. 
Gradually,  he  grew  to  know  the  real 
Lincoln,  and  as  the  months  went  by, 
contempt  vanished,  respect  replaced 
it,  and  at  last  came  a  real  affection. 

But  the  burden  Stanton  carried 
wore  down  even  his  rugged  health 
and  when,  early  in  1865,  Lee's  sur 
render  seemed  imminent,  Stanton 
handed  the  President  his  resignation 
and  asked  to  be  permitted  to  retire. 
And  then  it  was  that  Lincoln,  in  a 
burst  of  emotion,  threw  his  arms 
about  the  other,  and  said,  "Stanton, 
you  have  been  a  good  friend  and  a 
faithful  servant.  It  is  not  for  you  to 
[27] 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

say  how  long  the  country  needs  you." 
So  Stanton  remained  at  his  post. 
And  so  it  happened  that  on  that 
morning  after  the  fatal  shot  was  fired 
in  Ford's  Theater,  it  was  Stanton  who 
sat  just  outside  the  door  of  the  room 
in  which  Lincoln  lay,  courageously 
meeting  the  emergency,  directing  all. 
He  issued  orders  for  the  protection 
of  others  high  in  the  administration, 
he  maintained  constant  touch  with 
Grant,  then  hurrying  by  special  train 
toward  Washington,  and  there  with 
in  sound  of  the  moaning  of  the  dying 
President  he  dictated  what  is  still 
the  best  brief  account  of  the  awful 
night's  work. 

And  when  at  twenty  minutes  past 
seven,  Abraham  Lincoln  died,  and 
there  was  a  prayer  and  a  solemn 
pause,  it  was  Stanton's  voice  that 

[28] 


AS  A  MAN  AMONG  MEN 

broke  the  stillness  with  the  words: 
"Now  he  belongs  to  the  ages." 

Lloyd  George  says,  "Lincoln  was 
one  of  those  few  great  men  who  lost 
their  nationality  in  death." 

John  Drinkwater,  building  his 
great  drama  out  of  Lincoln's  life, 
considered  him  one  of  the  immortals. 
Viewing  his  greatness  from  afar,  he 
wrote  his  play  of  Lincoln,  looking 
upon  him  as  one  of  the  greatest  char 
acters  the  world  has  ever  known. 
And  when  two  years  later,  he  made 
his  first  visit  to  America  and  went 
out  to  Springfield,  he  could  scarcely 
realize  that  one  so  great  had  lived  so 
close  to  our  own  time,  that  here  were 
people  still  living  who  had  known 
him  and  looked  into  his  face. 

And  it  was  in  something  of  this 
same  spirit  that  the  other  day  in 

[29] 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

Washington,  I  thought  of  it  as  Lin 
coln's  Washington.  Here  was  the 
White  House  where  he  lived  and 
worked — here  were  the  windows  out 
of  which  he  looked  across  the  broad, 
sloping  lawns.  Here  were  the  very 
streets  where  he  watched  the  march 
ing  troops.  Here  was  the  Capitol 
and  the  East  Portico  where  he  and 
Douglas  stood  that  day  in  March  of 
'61,  and  where  he  stood  again  and 
delivered  the  pever-to-be-forgotten 
second  inaugural.  Here  was  the 
little  house  in  Tenth  Street  where 
they  carried  him  through  the  narrow 
doorway  and  into  the  little  back 
room — to  die.  And  down  by  the 
Potomac  was  the  magnificent  Lin 
coln  Memorial,  the  shrine  to  which 
men  come  from  the  ends  of  the  earth 
to  pay  tribute  to  his  memory. 

[30] 


AS  A  MAN  AMONG  MEN 

Yet  that  is  not  the  real  Lincoln 
shrine.  For  that  mountainous  figure, 
rising  out  of  a  humble  cabin  in 
Hodgenville,  Kentucky,  stands  today 
in  majestic  splendor,  so  that  the  ris 
ing  and  the  setting  sun  cast  West  and 
East  across  the  land  the  shadow  of 
its  influence  into  all  our  lives  and  set 
up  a  Lincoln  shrine  in  the  heart  of 
every  American. 


[31] 


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